Scott Rice

Tanner Roark recovered from a shaky first inning as an emergency starter in place of ailing Jordan Zimmermann, and the Washington Nationals rallied past the New York Mets 8-2 Thursday for an opening three-game sweep.

“It’s tough,” Niese said. “Obviously (if) we were playing next year we wouldn’t be in that situation. That’s the beauty of replay and how necessary it is. It is what it is. (Layne) made the call, and we just got to get over it and come back after the off-day.”

Sweep the Yanks four games home and home and then get swept in three by the horrendous, last-place, worst-team-in-baseball Marlins. Kind of makes it seem that the silly Subway Series was played in 1948 and not last week, doesn’t it?

Rookie Shelby Miller followed up his nearly perfect one-hitter with 5 2-3 scoreless innings and the Cardinals scored the go-ahead run in the seventh on a wild pitch in a 4-2 victory over the New York Mets on Wednesday night.

The Mets’ captain made his first appearance in a big league game since sustaining a rib injury during the World Baseball Classic, going 0-for-3 and playing five innings for New York in a 7-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

When the hard comebacker off the bat of Carlos Beltran (of course it was him) smashed off the right elbow of Mets pitcher Jeremy Hefner on Tuesday afternoon, you just had to laugh — to keep from crying.

Montero is not the only young arm drawing raves. Cory Mazzoni, the Mets’ second-round pick in 2011 out of North Carolina State, has started camp with five scoreless innings while allowing just one hit, no walks and three strikeouts.